“Apollo”

Disclosure's masterful debut Settle amalgamated recent trends in British dance music into sharp, chart-friendly packages, with spark-plug vocal performances that seamlessly slotted into Howard and Guy Lawrence's gleaming pop-house compositions. It's a surprise, then, that Disclosure's first major post-Settle release is a return to straightforward house, but fear not: "Apollo" is a ruthlessly catchy slab of club fodder, and proof that Disclosure's compositional growth isn't necessarily tied to their use of talented collaborators. A propulsive 4/4 throb, floating vocal samples, click-thrust percussion: these aren't novel dance floor ideas, but the song's sense of pace and sheen lends "Apollo" a degree of craftsmanship without feeling stale. It's a victory lap taken at a sprint, a stellar cap on a year that found Disclosure rising to the peak of contemporary dance music's Mount Olympus.